The Minus Button on the Rating Should GO!

I think that is a very good idea deeeky. I have read lots of discussions about people complaining about their star rating dropping because of other members giving them a minus rating. Some people appear to be getting minus rating because people disagree with them and this is against myLot rules. Great topic!

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Deeeky. I think the minus button should be removed completely, and if anybody has a VALID complaint, they should go through the ! button and give a reason, so that a Mylot Committee can peruse and validate it. Thus, the "hit and run" brigade would be eliminated. Your idea is pretty good too, but sometimes, the minus button can be hit by mistake and in these cases, a ban would be pretty harsh. Good luck with this one, my friend and Brightest Blessings.

The only time I use the minus button is when i also am reporting that person for abuse otherwise I don't use it I wouldn't want to press it just because I didn't like the discussion that is stupid! But I think you are right that people are misusing it and it should be taken away

Deeeky I agree with you there as I have been to a Discussion where a Member has rated minus because the Discussion IS TO LONG what does that mean, I mean come on have they read the Guidelines, go to the Member Profile and all the Discussions are one liners There are to many People who now abuse that minus Button so I think I agree it needs to be removed

I totally agree with you Deeeky. I am fully in favour of the "-" being removed. I see we have three options when reading a discussion, response or comment. 1. We give it a "+" because it is courteous and it applies to the discussion. Whether or not I agree with the content, it deserves a "+". 2. If it is only a few words, especially something like "I agree" I just don't rate it at all. 3. We have the "!" option. I use this two ways. (a) If it is a case of obvious personal abuse or of copy and paste, I will report it and give the exact offence. If I consider it personal abuse I will quote the exact offensive words used. If I consider it copy and paste I will give the address of where it is copied from. (b) I will also use this to ASK if something is against the guidelines. If I consider something MIGHT be abusive I will use the "!" and ask the question of myLot. It is THEIR responsibility to decide whether or not there has been an infringement. If all myLotters constantly used the rating facilities available, reported all abuses, and asked questions of suspected abuse, myLot would be a much better place. I see NO reason at all for the "-" rating. I used it a couple of times in the first couple of weeks here, but haven't used it since. I don't see a need for it, but I see a very GREAT need for its removal. People ARE mis-using it! How about starting a post which is a petition to myLot, where everyone just posts an "I agree". The problem with that is that myLot could delete all the responses as being against the guidelines. Any other ideas? Would there be enough people who would PM myLot asking for its deletion?

I strongly dissagree with you if a person gives what you feel is a bad responce why shouldnt you be able to hit minus its not like you want to report them but for me a bad responce deserves a minus rating

I hear you, I have responded to religious questions asked by Christians about others beliefs, and when they find out I am Pagan it seems that my rating drops for a few days. I think that it would be nice, in a way to stop abuse, but on the other hand, it is a nice opition to have when the response, is off topic or abusive to someone else.

I suggested that long before and I think mylot made an aler about that that ratings is just another factor but not the whle thing that can affect our rating so they said that its not necessary to let it out. But I think personally I still believe that minus sign should go too since some members heres who don't agree with someones response give minus sign just because of disagreement. That would be very unfair for someone who give there best to stand for what they belive in and then in the end recieve a mnus sign.

Well I do like having the minus button but for practicle reasons. Usually the only time I do use one is when I report one for guideline violations. I first report them and then rate them with a negative, this way I know I reported them. Sometimes when going through the discussions with no responses you might see the same post a few times, well this way if it's rated I know not to bother again. I do agree some abuse the negative sign and that is a shame but just because a few people do this there is no reason to remove part of the system. It just seems to be a major move just because some people cannot play fair. Why should others not have that option just because of some who are inconsiderate?

I really agree with you, I noticed that my reputation went down heaps in 3 days and I don't know why. It's frustrating too because I try to be friendly and polite and my reputation just keeps going down. If I don't agree with someone, I will still give them a positive. Even if I don't respond to a discussion I still will give them a positive. I can't believe people are doing negatives because their discussion is too long or too short, that is so unfair. Hope you have a good day too!

Even i agree to that , some people who may be jealous of people who are earning more or getting more response .....and may simply press the negative button in all the topics to decrease the person's rating or so !! So this is a good point to think about !!To avoid spam the user must be made to report with a comment to myLot instead of simply pressing the negative button

i've always thought rating systems on boards were a bad idea,for the reasons you stated.i'd rather mylot be the ones to decide,honestly. i had no idea people were hitting the button for short discussions,though.yikes :(

I can see both sides, I think you are right, but then I've gotten ridiculous off-topic replies to what were (I thought at least) meaningful discussion prompts. But yeah, the maliciousness of some people as usual ruins what would be an effective tool for others.

I've just rated a + for your nerve Deeky. I wonder what other people have done. Of course this has got nothing to do with being a fellow beard wearer but more to do with making sure tha your ratings stay high. I am unsure really. I always rate how I feel about the content, the approach. It actually has less to with how I agree or disagree and more to do with the presentation of content, so I have a guarded agreement with you.

Hi Deeeky, I agree with alot you have to say here but not sure whether the minus button should go or not. I have rated people with a minus BUT only if their response is either spam or they have left a stupid reply just to earn them a few cents. Maybe just the alert button should replace it and that might help, but I do think people misuse the minus button. Not sure what we ourselves can do as we will never know who has actually left us a minus!